Justice Department prosecutors have obtained an audio recording of former President Donald Trump from after he left office in which he talks about holding onto a classified Pentagon document related to a potential attack on Iran, according to media reports.
CNN, which first reported on the tape, said Trump suggested on the recording that he wanted to share information from the document with others but that he knew there were limitations about his ability to declassify records after he left office.
The comments on the recording, made in July 2021 at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, would seem to undercut the former president’s repeated claims that he declassified the documents he took with him from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, after leaving office. The recording could also be a key aid for prosecutors looking to prove Trump knew his ability to possess classified documents was limited.
The recording has been provided to special counsel Jack Smith, whose team of prosecutors have spent months investigating the potential mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and whether Trump or anyone else sought to criminally obstruct the probe. The investigation shows signs of being in its final stages, with prosecutors having interviewed a broad cross-section of witnesses before the grand jury.
No one has been criminally charged.
The criminal investigation began last year after the National Archives and Records Administration alerted the FBI to the presence of classified documents in 15 boxes of records sent back, belatedly, from Mar-a-Lago by Trump and his representatives. Investigators initially issued a subpoena for remaining classified records, but after they received only about three dozen during a June 2022 visit to Mar-a-Lago, returned with a search warrant two months later and recovered about 100 more documents marked as classified.
Smith, the special counsel, is also investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election — the subject of a similar, ongoing inquiry by prosecutors in Atlanta. New York prosecutors charged Trump earlier this year with falsifying business records.
According to the CNN report, the recording was made during a gathering at Bedminster with aides to Trump and two people who were working on the autobiography of Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
It said Meadows’ autobiography includes a description of what appears to be the same meeting. A lawyer for Meadows declined to comment Wednesday when reached by The Associated Press.
CNN said witnesses including Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have been questioned about the episode. A spokesman for Milley declined to comment on reports that he had been interviewed.
A spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment.
A Trump spokesman said in a statement that the investigation was “meritless” and amounted to “continued interference in the presidential election.”
(AP)
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21 Responses
I think DeSantis made a good and calculated move by deciding to run. Even though right now Trump is way ahead but he’s knee deep in scandals that ultimately is going undo him in. He’s going to be indicted again in the near future and probably more times after that and at that point he’ll start losing his grip on his base and they’ll move to DeSantis. As a Trump fan it’s painful to watch but he’s his own biggest enemy. It’s his own undoing. Ultimately DeSantis will become the nominee and win in the general election..
To YWN, have some hakarat hatov to a president whos been the best ever for the Jews and Israel. Its being a Kofu Toiv to post all these negative posts about him! Shame on you YWN !
Be like President Calvin ‘Silent Cal’ Coolidge. This goes for everyone. Always assume you are being recorded or that your words will be misconstrued. One rarely endangers himself by keeping quiet.
Show up on time, do your job, be ethical, and be quiet.
Most of the republican base wants Trump not Desantis.
Trump freed Rubashkin and other Jews
Trump moved the US embassy to Yerushalayim and called out the Arab bluff that all hell would break lose (the biggest achievement in foreign policy, for anyone who understands the depth of this)
Trump cut taxes and had the economy going
Trump tried so hard to manage COVID, but the deep state was all out to have as many people die as possible to break Trump politically
Trump was very good for the Jews and for America
If Reb Avigdor Miller Zt’l was around today he would fight for Trump even more than he did for Nixon, yet we have so called Jewish publishers who feel the need to bring every lefty propaganda to the windows of the frum Jew. Disgusting 🤮
Keep in mind the trump articles end with (AP) why dont you subscribe to the AOC feed
where is meritless merick garland
DeSantis will be under investigation too. It’s in the political playbook. Do you think he’ll be the first republican in decades not to be investigated with a fake trial?
I look forward to seeing Trump (a) go to jail in the US, or (b) flee to Russia while trials are pending.
As for the good he supposedly did for Israel, he alienated US allies, whom the US needs to engage in military action in defense of Israel, no matter where the capital of Israel is located.
With todays AI technology I don’t believe anything unless I see or hear it in person. A recording is a joke 🤦🏻♂️
I am so confused! I didn’t read the article carefully, but hang on — this seems to exonerate him! If I understood correctly, he was saying that he wanted to take the documents so that they would be considered declassified, because after he would leave office, he knew he couldn’t just share what had previously been classified information.
Trump’s enemies are about as honest as he is. Unless the tape clearly has Trump acknowledging doing something illegal they are probably worth as much as the all the other promises of Trump imminent conviction due to new evidence that we have seen non stop for the past seven years.
“As for the good he supposedly did for Israel, he alienated US allies, whom the US needs to engage in military action in defense of Israel, no matter where the capital of Israel is located.“
Like by normalizing relations with UAE and other Arab countries which now are backing away because Biden doesn’t have their back?
I wonder if your kool aid is kosher
He was allowed to take the docs. So what? Trump had the best US economy in history. If the president of the United States having classified docs in a secure location really bothers you, then it may be time to reflect on your own life choices and path. Something is wrong with you.
Let’s focus on the Sleepy Joe selling out the country to China.
Huju
Pathetic choices
And Everyone in Israel (except for the hard core liberals – who are the biggest Jew haters) will tell you Trump was the best president BY FAR! He helped Israel in every way possible, brought them peace agreements with Arab countries that everyone claimed was NOT possible without first making a peace deal with the Palestinians…
Trump called out that pathetic Bluff too. Libs like yourself can’t take it
No other republican will ever win.
All the cnn ap articles will not change anything
huju, may woke democrat principles always be a guiding light to you in every decision you make!!!
When you hit the dead end of their insanity, you will start understanding we like Trump.
Yawn:
And in tomorrows news………Trump…….. Trump…….Trump……….Busted…… Toasted…… Caught…….Rejected….. Trump…..
Somewhere around 95% of Anglos/expats in Israel voted for Trump last election. We sorely miss him. Good to see there are posters on this thread setting the record straight. Not even YWN is immune to TDS.
“Trump had the best US economy in history.”
Under Trump we had the highest unemployment since the Great Depression.
“If the president of the United States having classified docs in a secure location”
He wasn’t President and the location wasn’t secure. And he stole the documents. This is an open and shut Espionage Act violation.
“Trump tried so hard to manage COVID”
He admitted that he deliberately lied about COVID even as the virus was spreading like wildfire. And then he promoted junk science treatments. And then he tried to take credit for the Pfizer vaccine when he had had nothing to do with it.
“he alienated US allies”
And tried to coddle US enemies like Russia and North Korea.
“Biden doesn’t have their back?”
Biden not only supports the Abraham Accords, he is trying to add Saudi Arabia.
However, Sudan had not implemented it’s part of the Accords because the country is now a failed state with a bloody civil war.
“so that they would be considered declassified”
No evidence that he declassified them prior to leaving office; some he was not legally permitted to declassify; and he wasn’t President by the time the recording was made so it was illegal for him to have the documents and he could not declassify them.
“Trump moved the US embassy to Yerushalayim”
Biden and Moynihan tried to get it moved there in the 1980s but couldn’t convince the Reagan or Bush Administrations.
“whos been the best ever for the Jews and Israel”
The best President for Israel was unquestionably Lyndon Johnson.